Distorted Attitudes and Perceptions, and Their Relationship With Self-Esteem and Coping in Child Molesters

Abstract

Two studies were conducted to compare various aspects of child molesters, non-sexual offenders, and community-based nonoffenders. These studies were aimed at examining some implications of our general model of sexual offending. Study 1 compared the responses of these 3 groups on measures of self-esteem, attitudes toward women and children, and social desirability tendencies. The only observed difference was that child molesters had significantly lower self-esteem than did the other 2 groups. In Study 2, child molesters displayed more cognitive distortions about sex between adults and children than did nonsexual offenders or nonoffenders. However in this study child molesters scored in the same range as the other participants on self-esteem and the tendency to use sex as a way of coping with problems. The results are discussed in terms of the differences between the present findings and earlier studies, and their implications for future research.

A First Test of the Implicit Relational Assessment Procedure as a Measure of Self-Esteem: Irish Prisoner Groups and University Students

“…Sexual offenders were excluded because of the heterogeneity of self-esteem among sub-categorizations of such prisoners (e.g., Kalichman, 1991;Marshall, Marshall, Sachdev, & Kruger, 2003;Shine, McCloskey, & Newton, 2002). Paramilitary prisoners were excluded because they frequently report that they are not criminals, even to the extent that they do not associate with nonparamilitary prisoners and retain their rank structure within the prison (e.g., Jamieson & Grounds, 2002;Mitchell, 2003).…”

Crime Analysis About Sex Offenders in Turkey: Rapists' Psychological Profiling, Cognitive Distortions and Psychopathy

“…Schweighofer (1993) also detected a meaningful difference between sex offenders and non-offenders in terms of cognitive distortions regarding rape. Sex offenders have more cognitive distortions than non-offenders when considering rape as a crime (Hanson et al 1994, Marshall et al 2003, Stermac and Segal 1989. Cognitive distortions include reactions such as rationalization, accusation, denial, excuses, and the observed difference between sex offenders and non-offenders is not an unexpected result.…”

Same-sex child molestation within the Boy Scouts of America initiation and termination in victim narratives.

“…Perpetrators' behaviors could be explained by the feelings of worthlessness and low self-esteem that previous studies indicated as an integral reasons for preference for children (Milner & Webster, 2005;Marshall, 2003). On the surface, young boys trusted and respected adult scoutmasters.…”

“…In the meantime, offenders' behaviors were at the center of attention for analysis to determine their potential risk factors and effective offender treatment strategies (Abel et al, 1994). A primary reason for child molestation identified in the previous studies is some sense of personal vulnerability, such as social incompetence and low self-esteem (Gilgun, 1994;Marshall, Marshall, Sachdev, & Kruger, 2003;Milner & Webster, 2005;Marshall, Champagne, Brown, & Miller, 1997;Terry, 2013).…”

“…Milner and Webster (2005) saw a sense of worthlessness as the most prevalent feelings among child molesters when compared with rapists or violent offenders. Similarly, Marshall et al (2003) also argued that child molesters had significantly lower self-esteem than nonsexual offenders.…”